Baby Steps
by LayKay
Summary: Eli would do anything for his friends.  Including fathering their child?  Future fic.  Fiona/Adam, Eli/Clare, Holly J/Declan
1. Chapter 1

**Baby Steps**

"Fiona wants to have a baby."

Eli choked on his coffee and put his cup on the table where he and Adam sat. He looked at his friend, who was sitting across from him. "Since when?"

"Since Holly J and Declan brought Kylie home. We went to go see them and the minute Fi held her… her face was just…" he trailed off, shaking his head.

"Maybe you should get her a puppy."

Adam looked down at his coffee and shook his head silently.

"Did you guys ever talk about it?" Eli inquired carefully. "I mean… how you'd go about…"

Adam shook his head. "For like five minutes a few months after we got married. We just decided we'd talk more about it when the time came."

"And let me guess, instead of talking about it with your wife, you're here talking about it with me? You've been doing this for ten years, man. It's getting old."

Adam glared at him. "We know our options, Eli. Sperm donor, adoption." He shrugged once before continuing. "I'd rather have the baby at least share her DNA than neither of us. I mean, it's not like she can't have a baby…"

"I'll do it," Eli said suddenly, cutting him off.

"What?"

"I'll do it. I'll donate or whatever. You can use my sperm."

Adam blinked. "Dude, I wasn't asking…"

"I know. But I'm offering. It should be someone you know and not just some random dude's frozen stuff that you guys picked from a catalog because he has pretty eyes and a high IQ. That leaves Declan, Drew and me. If Declan does it, the baby will come out with two heads, Drew… I'm sorry, man, but he shouldn't father anyone's child."

"So… you wanna be my baby's daddy?"

Eli laughed. "Don't get weird. You'll be the dad. I'll do the sweaty work and actually get her pregnant, you do the rest."

Adam glared at him again. "It's all done in a lab, dude. You're not touching her."

"Damn," he mumbled. "So… you wanna do this?"

Adam shrugged. "I gotta talk to Fiona about it. Do you think Clare's gonna be cool with it?"

Eli shrugged as well. "I guess we'll find out."

* * *

to be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

**Baby Steps **

**Chapter 2**

"Clare, come on. Be reasonable."

Clare turned to Eli, causing him to skid to a stop as he chased her around their house. "Be reasonable?" she repeated. "Reasonable? Eli, reasonable is discussing a huge life decision with your wife before making your mind up. Reasonable is not deciding to donate your sperm so someone else can have your child. And, so you know, donating your sperm is a huge life decision and I am your wife, therefore we should have discussed it."

"Come on," he said, taking a hesitant step towards her. "It's Adam and Fiona."

"I know. But it just doesn't make sense. I can't believe Adam would ask you something like this."

"He didn't," he whispered.

"What?"

"Adam… he didn't ask. I offered."

"Oh. Well, that makes things better," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Come on," he said again. "Fiona wants a baby."

"And you have to be the father?"

"I won't be. Adam will. I'm just gonna… get Fiona pregnant," he said slowly.

"Right. Really reasonable." She shook her head and began walking away from him again.

"Clare," he said, catching her arm. "There's not gonna be any contact. We're helping them. Aren't you all about helping?"

"Yeah but," she began, shaking her head as she closed her eyes. "This baby is going to be your first child. I just always thought that your first child… would be mine too."

He smiled. "So you're jealous? You're jealous of a baby that hasn't even been born… hasn't even been conceived yet?"

"I'm not jealous. I'm just… ok, I'm jealous."

"You're ridiculous sometimes, you know that?" he teased as he pulled her into his arms. "So… you wanna have my baby?"

"Eli," she mumbled, pulling away from him.

"Why don't we?"

"What?"

"We should have a kid. I mean, if this thing with Adam and Fiona happens, you guys will be pregnant together and drive each other insane instead of us. And they'll grow up together, you know, they'll be friends. They'll watch out for each other."

She smiled. "Like Adam and Eli 2.0?"

"Degrassi should be so lucky." He raised his eyebrows. "You want to?"

She blinked. "Tonight?"

He smirked. "Why not?"

"Well… it could take months for Fiona to get pregnant."

"See, I was joking about that driving each other crazy thing. Knowing you two, those pregnancy mood swings will make you kill each other."

"Right," she mumbled.

"Clare, do not want to…"

"I don't know. Clearly, I'm not as baby happy as you. I mean, you never seemed to give kids a second thought, now you want to have two?"

He shook his head. "This is different. It's not for me or us, it's for them. And… like I said, it'll be Adam and Fiona's kid. Not ours."

"You… you really want a baby? Our baby?"

He shrugged. "I'm not getting any younger."

"Please. You're 26. Your biological clock isn't going to be running out any time soon. Besides, I think me and Fiona being pregnant at the same time would be way too much for you guys to handle. We wouldn't kill each other, we'd kill you."

"True. Your combined powers could be lethal."

"I want to have a baby with you, Eli," she told him. "Someday. Let's not steal Adam and Fiona's thunder. It's their time, not ours."

He nodded. "Well… we could practice, until that time comes," he suggested flirtatiously.

"They do say practice makes perfect."

* * *

to be continued…

AN: next chapter will be Adam and Fiona, and it'll switch back and forth between them until near the end. Holly J and Declan will show up eventually too, but probably won't have a full chapter to themselves.

And sorry for anyone who got excited about the possibility of an Eclare baby. With what's happening, they pretty much had to talk about kids. This is gonna be primarily about the Fadam baby (notice I said primarily. Hint hint)


	3. Chapter 3

AN: sorry it's taken me so long to update this…

**Baby Steps**

**Chapter 3**

"Whatcha doin'?" Adam asked as he walked into the guest room of his home, where Fiona was standing.

She smiled. "I was thinking we could paint it green. Like, a light seafoam. With circus border."

He smiled as well and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "You hate clowns," he reminded her.

"Animals," she said quickly. Baby animals."

He laughed and kissed the side of her head. "With pacifiers and diapers and bottles?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Baby animals don't use pacifiers."

He laughed again, holding her close as he looked around the room. "A changing table near the window and a crib in the corner."

She nodded and turned to face him. "I can't believe this is happening."

He sighed. "Nothing's really happened yet."

"I know you don't like getting your hopes up, but Eli's not gonna back out. He knows how important this is to us."

"What if it doesn't work?" he asked softly

She shook her head. "It'll work," she told him. "People do this all the time."

"I know. But sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes… sometimes the baby dies."

"Miscarriages happen sometimes, Adam. It has nothing to do with in vitro. Do you really not want to try just because of what-ifs?"

He shook his head silently, shrugging. "I wish I could make things easier for you, Fi. I wish I could make a baby with you and we could just be a normal family."

"When have we ever been normal?" she joked.

"Never. That's the whole point." He walked out of the room, moving to the couch and sat on the arm.

She shook her head as she followed him. She straddled his lap, putting her hands on his shoulders. "I love you," she told him. "I want to raise a baby with you."

He sighed at her choice of words. "I love you too," he said after a moment, leaning his head against hers. He put his hands on her waist, holding her close. "All I've ever wanted to do is make you happy."

"You do. You make me so happy."

He smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes before he looked away from her. "I don't want to talk about this anymore," he said. "I don't want to jinx it."

"Talking about it isn't jinxing it."

He looked at her silently.

"Ok," she said. "No more baby talk."

"At least not until there actually is a baby growing in here," he said, touching her stomach softly.

To be continued…

AN: like I said at the beginning, sorry for not updating this for a while but, as some of you may have noticed, I've been working on my Fadam series like crazy. I only have the time/energy to keep up with one story at a time, so Until June (my current Fadam story) is going to be put on the back burner for a while I get this story started back up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Baby Steps**

**Chapter 4**

"I wanna go home," Fiona said groggily from her hospital bed.

Adam smiled as he sat on the bed next to her. "Just a couple more hours."

"What am I supposed to do for two hours in a hospital?"

"You're supposed to relax. You just had surgery."

"I didn't have surgery," she told him. "I wasn't even knocked out. Kind of wish I had been though." After almost a month of ultrasounds and tests and two weeks of fertility treatments, she had undergone egg extraction.

He frowned as he took her hand. He hated watching her as she gave herself a fertility shot three times a day, though he finally understood why she looked away when he injected himself with testosterone in the morning.

They were finally over their first hurdle. The fertilization process was underway and in a few days she'd be re-implanted. Then there would be another two weeks of waiting before the first pregnancy test.

Adam hated that they had to go through such an intricate process to have a baby. Not for the first time, he envied Eli, Drew and Declan. Declan and Holly J had just had their first daughter five months before and they weren't actively trying to have a baby.

He leaned forward to kiss her forehead softly. When he pulled away, she noticed how upset he looked.

"Hey," she said, squeezing his hand. "You're not allowed to do that, remember? You can't just disappear inside your head."

"I'm right here."

"You know what I mean. Your therapist said you shouldn't keep things bottled up."

He shook his head. "I just wish I could make this easier for you."

"Since when has anything ever been easy with us?"

"Knock, knock," a familiar voice said. Adam and Fiona looked toward the door as Clare and Eli walked into the room.

"How are Mom and Dad doing?" Clare asked.

Fiona sighed softly. "I'm exhausted, Adam's freaking out."

"I am not!"

"Oh, the joys of parenthood," Eli murmured.

"So, how was your umm… procedure?" Fiona asked slowly.

Clare laughed. "It wasn't exactly a procedure. It's what he does best."

Eli smirked. "Well, I have been training for it since I was twelve."

Adam rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"Dude, you're gonna be a dad!" Eli said, holding up his right hand for a high five.

"Get away from me." Adam quickly ducked away from Eli's hand.

0o-0o-0o-0o

"How long until we know?" Clare asked. She, Eli and Adam were seated in Adam and Fiona's living room while Fiona was in the bathroom as they waited for results from the pregnancy test.

Adam checked his watch. "Three minutes."

"I don't think I've ever been so nervous while I waited for someone to finish peeing," Eli said.

"Dude," Adam sighed, shaking his head.

The group fell into silence. This was definitely the longest five minutes of Adam's life. He wasn't sure how he managed to sit still.

Finally, the bathroom door opened. Adam jumped off the couch as Fiona exited the bathroom, holding the thin plastic strip, her head down.

"Oh, no," Clare whispered.

"Fi," Adam said softly, slowly walking towards her.

She lifted her head to look at him, her expression unreadable.

To be continued…


	5. Chapter 5

**Baby Steps**

**Chapter 5**

For a moment, the room was silent with all eyes on Fiona, who was looking at Adam.

"I'm pregnant," she finally whispered, barely audible.

Adam blinked once then grinned. "You're… you are?"

She laughed. "I am," she said, handing the pregnancy test to him.

He smiled as he looked at that strip in his hand. "You're pregnant." She laughed once more as he pulled her close and kissed her.

Clare looked at Eli, they were standing forgotten by the other couple near the couch. "Um… we'll leave you two to celebrate," Clare said as she took Eli's hand.

Fiona separated from Adam to see their friends as they went to the front door of the apartment. "Don't," she said. "We should all celebrate together."

"Yeah," Adam agreed. "We couldn't have done this without you guys."

Eli nodded. "This is true."

"Let's toast," Fiona suggested.

Adam smiled. Fiona found any excuse to toast, though he agreed this was a special occasion.

"Champagne for us and sparkling cider for mom?" Eli asked as Adam walked to the kitchen. Clare quickly hit him in the arm.

"Not exactly," Adam said as he pulled a new bottle of cider out of the refrigerator. It was common knowledge amongst their friends that there was no alcohol in the Coyne-Torres household, though Eli and Adam often went out for drinks on the weekends.

"Sorry," Eli murmured.

Fiona shook her head as she walked to Adam's side. She picked up one of the four glasses he'd poured. "To the future?"

"To Little Eli," Eli said as he and Clare joined Fiona and Adam.

Adam smiled and tapped his glass against Eli's. "No way, dude."

0o-0o-0o-0o

Adam rolled over, automatically feeling for Fiona's body next to him. His hand, however, met an empty sheet. He lifted his head to look around the room, before he saw his wife sitting at the computer. "Fi, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," she said. "I just couldn't sleep."

He frowned as he got out of bed and walked over to the computer desk to stand behind her. "What are you looking at?" he asked, rubbing her shoulders gently.

"Baby names. What do you think of Madison or Haley if it's a girl?"

Adam stopped rubbing her shoulders, frowning as he took a step away from her. "Isn't it a little early to start thinking about that?"

"Well, we can't really call the baby 'it' forever, can we? How about Cameron for a boy?"

He sighed. "I thought we weren't gonna talk about this."

"You said not until I got pregnant. I'm pregnant." He didn't speak for a moment, so she continued. "I need to see the doctor again in a few days but I'm healthy and the in vitro worked. Other than actually being parents, I think the hardest part is past us."

He smiled and pulled her out of the chair, then sat down and pulled her into his lap. He kissed her softly then looked at the computer screen. "Ok, let's find a name."

To be continued…


	6. Chapter 6

**Baby Steps**

**Chapter 6**

"Adam?" Fiona called as she walked into the unfinished nursery, where her husband was standing.

He turned to look at her when she entered the room. "What are you doing up?"

"I was wondering the same thing. I rolled over and you weren't there."

He shrugged. "I'm just thinking," he replied simply as he looked around the room. He and Eli had spent the weekend painting the walls and the room that previously held a large bed and computer desk was now empty of furniture. It was the middle of the night and the only light came from the moon outside the window.

"About what?" she asked, wrapping her arms around him from behind.

"The baby."

"Adam," she sighed. "The doctor said everything's fine."

He nodded. "I know. I can still hear the heartbeat from the ultrasound this morning."

"It sounded like a hummingbird."

He smiled, glancing at her over his shoulder. "Yeah."

She wrapped her arms slightly tighter around him. "Good and strong."

He nodded again, still smiling, before he slowly turned to face her. "I can't believe we're gonna be parents," he said softly.

She almost laughed. "Is that what's bothering you?"

He shrugged as if it were obvious. "You know, I never used to think I'd actually be a father. Before you, I never thought I'd meet someone who would want to have kids with me."

"There's nothing I want more," she told him, tightening her arms around him.

The corner of his mouth curled into a smile, though it didn't quite reach his eyes as he reached down to touch her stomach. At ten weeks along, she was barely showing but he knew her body so well that he noticed even the tiniest change.

"What if I screw the baby up?" he asked so softly she barely heard him.

"What? Baby, why would you think that?"

"You know, I'm me," he said, shrugging his shoulders quickly.

She sighed softly, leaning her forehead against his as she held him tightly. After all the years and surgeries, he still had doubts about himself.

When they'd first started dating, and even into the early months of their marriage, she worried about his bouts of dysphoria. His panic attacks eventually became a rare occurrence in their lives, though she was able to notice when he slipped away inside his own head.

"You're going to be an amazing father," she told him. "This baby is gonna be so lucky to have you as a dad."

He put his arms around her, hugging her. "You're gonna be such a great mom," he whispered.

"We'll be great parents. Together."

To be continued…

AN: short chapter is short. Sorry I haven't updated in so long then I go and post… this. School and work have been really insane the last couple weeks and the ugh happening with Fadam on the show put me off from writing for a bit. Fanon beats Canon's ass.


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